Graydon Nicholas

The Honourable Graydon Nicholas CM ONB
30th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
In office 30 September 2009 – 23 October 2014
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Michaëlle Jean David Johnston
Premier	Shawn Graham David Alward Brian Gallant
Preceded by	Herménégilde Chiasson
Succeeded by	Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau
Personal details
Born	1946 (age 70–71) Tobique First Nation, New Brunswick
Profession	Judge
Religion	Roman Catholic

Graydon Nicholas CM ONB (born 1946, Maliseet) is an attorney, judge, and politician who served as the appointed 30th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (2009-2014). He is the first Aboriginal person to hold the office, the first to be appointed as a provincial court judge (in 1991), and the first in Atlantic Canada to obtain a law degree.

Graydon Nicholas was born into a Maliseet family on the Tobique First Nations Reserve. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Francis Xavier University and, in 1971, a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of New Brunswick. He was the first First Nations person in Atlantic Canada to earn a law degree. He also obtained a Master of Social Work degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1974.

Returning to New Brunswick, Nicholas worked for the Union of New Brunswick Indians, serving as its chairman of the board (1976–1980) and president (1980–1988). Selected as chair of the Native Studies program at St. Thomas University, he has lectured part time.

Nicholas was appointed as a provincial court judge in 1991, the first aboriginal to be selected for the position. He has worked for justice for First Nations and other peoples, particularly in the area of logging rights. During this period, he also lectured in theology at the Vancouver School of Theology and the Native Ministries Consortium program.

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